How to publish articles from a PhD thesis without being accused of plagiarism
Open science, promoted in France by the National Plan for Open Science, encourages the openness of research results and scientific output. Regarding PhD theses, issues may arise when a manuscript based on the thesis is submitted to a journal and a similarity detection report (generated by CrossCheck, Ithenticate or Compilatio, for example), used by the publisher, reveals a high percentage of correspondence with the thesis by the same author.
- The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (2023) sets out that it is considered unacceptable to ” Re-publishing substantive parts of one’s own earlier publications, including
- translations, without duly acknowledging or citing the original (‘self-plagiarism’)”.
- The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE https://publicationethics.org/) has indicated that institutional repository submission is not an act of publication and should not be treated as such.
- The CNRS Ethics Committee calls for an educational approach, opining that it is necessary to promote a culture of citation and an understanding of the legal and scientific status of each form of dissemination rather than punishing the “recycling of text” in a thesis.
The Committee for Open Science has emphasised the fundamental difference between archiving (or self-archiving) and publishing. The dissemination of a PhD thesis on theses.fr and HAL should not in itself constitute an obstacle to the publication of an article based on the thesis as long as there is complete transparency regarding the existence of different versions of the same text.
Referencing to ensure transparency
When researchers publish articles based on their theses, they may reformulate, update or extract results to produce a version that will then be validated by an editorial committee.
This reuse is sometimes mistakenly interpreted as self-plagiarism, often because of the absence of a reference to the original document in the article or in the letter accompanying its submission.
An article may well be based on a thesis deposited in an open archive, provided that:
- The publisher is informed in the submission letter that the work is based on a thesis deposited in an open archive;
- The thesis is clearly cited in the list of references, a footnote or acknowledgements;
- The text is adapted to the chosen editorial format, which may require rewording and updating of the analyses.
Transparency is the best defence against any accusation of self-plagiarism.
The practice of citation is integral to scientific work, including that of one’s own work. It is essential to explain and contextualise the adaptation of PhD research in a footnote.
For an article submitted as part of a monograph project, whether partially or totally derived from a thesis, publishers often require the content to be adapted to the new publication and distribution format. In this case, it is therefore up to the author not to reproduce the PhD work as it stands in the submitted manuscript.
So, should you archive or publish? Both!
Confusing archiving and publishing is detrimental to the dissemination of knowledge and also to the recognition of scientific work.
Both publishers and researchers should learn to consider and distinguish between these two approaches to dissemination:
- Open archives (like HAL) aim to disseminate and preserve knowledge.
- Editorial publication is an additional step in scientific validation and integration into the body of scientific literature.
Find out more:
- European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (2023) (in French): https://www.ofis-france.fr/publication-de-la-version-francaise-du-code-de-conduite-europeen-pour-lintegrite-en-recherche-2023/
- COPE’s position on the publication of material from theses:
- https://publicationethics.org/guidance/cope-position/publishing-material-theses et https://publicationethics.org/guidance/case/unpublished-phd-thesis-included-institutional-library-submitted-academic-journal
- Opinion of the CNRS Ethics Committee on plagiarism and self-plagiarism (2017): https://comite-ethique.cnrs.fr/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/AVIS-2017-34.pdfs.fr/
- French Office for Scientific Integrity website: https://www.ofis-france.fr/en/
- Theses.fr https://theses.fr/ lists all doctoral theses defended in France since 1985
- HAL, thesis submission and distribution: https://theses.hal.science/
Credits
This text was prepared by the Committee for Open Science’s ‘open scientific publishing’ expert group and the publications committee thanks to contributions from François Théron, Gabrielle Richard, Filippo A. E. Nuccio Mortarino Majno di Capriglio and Marin Dacos.
This text follows discussions with Olivier Pourret, Head of Scientific Integrity and Open Science – UniLaSalle
